Delaware Valley girls basketball team falls in tourney final

HILLSBOROUGH — It’s not like the NCAA has handed down an edict stipulating only football teams that actually are good will be permitted to compete in bowl games.

But one local athletic holiday tradition of sorts did meet its demise Saturday when the Delaware Valley High girls fell to West Windsor-Plainsboro South 50-38 in the Hillsborough Tournament final. DelVal had won five straight holiday tourneys, including the last four Hillsborough events.

The Terriers, however, weren’t at their best in this contest after a generally strong showing the previous day in a 56-55 first-round triumph over Sayreville. WW-PS (4-1) took the lead late in the opening quarter and never gave it up while handing Delaware Valley its first loss in three outings.

“I don’t think we showed up to play,” said DelVal first-year Head Coach Mike Haughey, “and by the time the second half hit, I think we were already too far behind to make up for it. They (the Pirates) didn’t miss much. It’s tough when you play a team that’s hot and you’re not and you have to make up for it on the defensive end, and I don’t think we did a real good job of that tonight.”

West Windsor-South, which shot poorly while edging the host team 38-35 in its tourney debut, was much more accurate in the final, connecting on 51 percent of its field goal attempts against the Terriers’ man-to-man defense. Guard Alyssen Rivers, selected as the tourney’s MVP, topped the Mercer County squad with 20 points.

“I thought they were an outstanding team, I really did,” said Haughey. “They were a much different team than the one I saw yesterday (against Hillsborough), to tell you the truth. They had a lot of turnovers and missed a lot of shots.”

The Terriers also were a much different team than the one which slipped past Sayreville. In that game guard Justine Doran tallied a career-high 29 points (14 from the foul line) and Haley Pilone had 19 points, including five buckets from three-point territory, before a box-and-one shut her out from the midway juncture of the second period.

DelVal sank10 three-pointers in that game yet still shot just 31 percent from the floor. The Terriers shot 29 percent against WW-PS and Doran, who got into second-half foul trouble, managed just a single basket and seven points while Pilone led the team with 13 points.

“We knew we had to stop 42 (Doran) and 21 (Pilone),” said West Windsor-South first-year Head Coach Mika Ryan, who witnessed the DelVal-Sayreville encounter. “So we had to gear up to keep pressure on them and our post players had to be ready to pick her (Doran) up if she came off a pick-and-roll.

“We had a walk-through earlier today and covered that, and I thought our kids took the walk-through seriously and did what we asked of them. Plus, the effort was great. I always think coaching is a great profession when you don’t have to coach effort.”

“They came out and seemed to be synching a lot to our offense,” he said. “It seemed that she had us pretty well scouted. But I’d told my assistants before the game that our shots might not fall like they did yesterday in every game, and that’s why you have to work the hardest on things you can control the most, and that’s defense and effort.”

The Pirates’ lead over DelVal reached double figures for the first time when they scored the first six points of the second half for a 30-20 cushion.

But DelVal stayed within striking range and closed the third stanza trailing just 36-30 after center Megan Bradley scored inside and Pilone hit a transition bucket off a turnover.

WW-PS’s Alyssa Rivers then began the final quarter by flipping in an off-balance underhand shot while being fouled by Kristen Brokaw and hit the free throw for a 39-30 difference. Pilone retaliated with a three-pointer — her only one of the game — and Rivers hit a foul shot and a fast-break layup off a blocked shot to put the Pirates in front 42-33 with 5:57 to go.

Natalie Calcavecchio’s free throw cut the DelVal deficit to 42-34 at the 3:03 mark but that’s the closest the Terriers would get. DelVal was hindered by 2-for-13 shooting from the field and four turnovers in the final period. Doran also fouled out with 1:32 to go.